iMac Pro X299 - Live the Future now with macOS 10.14 Mojave [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[pieropontra]

Yeah I spent some time researching this for a few months, and since I don't want to do a full open loop yet (sorry to sound like a broken record), this seemed like the best option.

I'm not worried about corrosion, I just want a system to last for a few years without me opening it up every few weeks, which I was doing with the Gigabyte mobo.

I was having some major issues with heat from the Skylake-X and the Vega, the fans kept ramping up and down for no reason, and I had to refill the BeQuiet! AIO because apparently the liquid had dried up. Now I hear air bubble sounds (which is fixable easily)...but small things like that really annoy me.

I'm hoping moving to a bigger case like the Evolv X will finally solve that issue with these bigger radiators and waterblocks.

Just a newbie question: How a custom loop knows ho to cool a GPU if the pump is connected to mobo header (linked to CPU temps) and fans are connected to the pump (or to CPU fan headers on mobo)? Long story short: How the GPU talks to the fans to ask when it needs more rpms???

 

[izo1]

Just a newbie question: How a custom loop knows ho to cool a GPU if the pump is connected to mobo header (linked to CPU temps) and fans are connected to the pump (or to CPU fan headers on mobo)? Long story short: How the GPU talks to the fans to ask when it needs more rpms???

The water pump usually runs at a constant speed to move out hot liquid and bring in cool liquid.

The radiator fans are connected to the mobo header, and ramp up or down via pwm (if you choose to do this) based on the motherboard sensors. So if you set 360mm rad fans to the cpu sensor, it will ramp up when the cpu starts hitting certain temperatures, then go down when it becomes cooler.

I usually use the “silent” preset and let the fans do their thing, that’s why I prefer quieter fans, although they don’t move a ton of air like Noctuas.

You can set a limit to the fan speeds and make custom fan curves if so desired to not hit certain RPMs so things don’t get crazy loud.

It’s all trial and error.

 

[pieropontra]

The water pump usually runs at a constant speed to move out hot liquid and bring in cool liquid.

The radiator fans are connected to the mobo header, and ramp up or down via pwm (if you choose to do this) based on the motherboard sensors. So if you set 360mm rad fans to the cpu sensor, it will ramp up when the cpu starts hitting certain temperatures, then go down when it becomes cooler.

I usually use the “silent” preset and let the fans do their thing, that’s why I prefer quieter fans, although they don’t move a ton of air like Noctuas.

You can set a limit to the fan speeds and make custom fan curves if so desired to not hit certain RPMs so things don’t get crazy loud.

It’s all trial and error.

Ok, but how the mobo knows GPU temps to be able to ramp up pwm signal accordingly like it does with the CPU trough cpu fan headers? Do some mobo got dedicated gpu fan header? Mine hasn’t

 

[Loloflatsix]

Ok, but how the mobo knows GPU temps to be able to ramp up pwm signal accordingly like it does with the CPU trough cpu fan headers? Do some mobo got dedicated gpu fan header? Mine hasn’t

If your custom water cooling loop has two radiators, you can assign the temperature curve of the fans of one radiator at the Pci line in witch your GPU is installed : I think Asus or Gigabyte mobos allow to choose this option ( I will check this on my build on which I am still adjusting the settings).

 

[pieropontra]

@Loloflatsix @izo1

I investigated my Prime board and I think there's nothing like that. I believed there were a way to connect the mini pwm board header to rad fans but it seems water blocks don't offer access to that header, yours?

Anyway, my Vega Liquid doesn't seem to be too throttled for my use linked to mobo fan header... I think I'll wait for Navi and stick to an air cooled RX 3080 (or whatever the name will be) hoping 7nm die will be colder than Vega. I think it's inconvenient to switch to Vega air cooled now with Navi on the horizon, don't you think? Some references to navi appeared in MacOS drivers too. Anyway, a 500€ investment to custom cool CPU and GPU is too much for me, I already got a 360mm AiO for CPU. If I could go back at this point, I'd buy a Noctua air cooler (the D15s maybe) and an air GPU ;-) for sure a quiter System!

 

[taylorsyn]

Both modified kexts are now part of the library.

Thanks for all your efforts and help

A nice weekend to you, too

The USB-C port on the back of the board has an issue. The USB C port on my thunderbolt 3 card has no issues. Anyway to troubleshoot?

 

[kgp]

The USB-C port on the back of the board has an issue. The USB C port on my thunderbolt 3 card has no issues. Anyway to troubleshoot?

Do a port investigation and modify or complete the available kexts if necessary. Maybe @Ellybz forgot about the implementation of the back-panel USB-C connector? is the latter really part of XHCI? In this case you might just need to add HS06 and SSP6 to both kexts and drop some other ports in case of the truncated 15-port kext? Do the two modified kexts attached below improve something in your case?

 

[pieropontra]

@kgp hey mate, could you please summarize your experience with Gigabyte OC and Sapphire Nitro+ (Vega 64) cards? even regarding DP and HDMI ports and general compatibility/stability, I'd like to drive my 3x4K monitors with DP (you know Nitro got just 2 DP). Thanks mate, I ask you since I know you tested both. I don't want overclock, just want a silent card without having to tweak power tables.

 

[kgp]

@kgp hey mate, could you please summarize your experience with Gigabyte OC and Sapphire Nitro+ (Vega 64) cards? even regarding DP and HDMI ports and general compatibility/stability, I'd like to drive my 3x4K monitors with DP (you know Nitro got just 2 DP). Thanks mate, I ask you since I know you tested both. I don't want overclock, just want a silent card without having to tweak power tables.

Go for a custom waterblocked MSI Radeon RX Vega 64 Airboost 8G OC in this case.

Good luck

 

[Ellybz]

Do a port investigation and modify or complete the available kexts if necessary. Maybe @Ellybz forgot about the implementation of the back-panel USB-C connector? is the latter really part of XHCI? In this case you might just need to add HS06 and SSP6 to both kexts and drop some other ports in case of the truncated 15-port kext? Do the two modified kexts attached below improve something in your case?

What makes you assume that the back panel USB-C on GA Gaming 7 is associated with HS06/SS06 and not HS07,08,etc ?
I found your comment a bit troubling. In this particular Mobo, USB-C is not part of XHCI but RP05 - ( USB 3.1 Port ). I have clearly stated this in my findings and post. Here's an example of a drive attached to this port.